Wild Roses [Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns]

Chapter 1

People often forgot the girls were in the room whenever anything serious was going on or under discussion. That was partly due to the fact that they were such well-behaved, quiet children (at least, some of the time), and partly because no one really expected that they would understand any of it, anyway.

People never gave them enough credit.

When Alice collapsed on the kitchen floor, burning up with a high fever, her face flushed and her eyes glazed over, Lily knew just what to do and where to go. She told her little sister, Cami, to stay right there beside their mother, then she ran out the door as swiftly as her nimble little feet could carry her, across the dirt road to the pretty little church where she knew she would find Alisa and Nathan. Bursting in through the doors, her very entrance startled them from their quiet prayers and brought them to their feet.

"'Lisa, 'Lisa! Mama's sick!" Lily cried as she ran up to them, clutching at Alisa's skirts to pull her towards the door. "She's red and hot all over and she fell down and she isn't talking! Hurry!"

The two adults turned startled faces towards each other. "Sick? Alice? Why, I.... Very well, Alisa, you go back with the child and see what you can do. I'll go fetch Cam. It may be nothing serious, but far better to be safe...."

Alisa nodded, her deep blue-violet eyes clouded with concern as she hurried after the little girl. On her arrival, she found Cami sitting next to her unconscious mother, stroking her hair, crying and pleading with her to wake up. She couldn't lift Alice on her own, she knew, but she checked her pulse (racing), her breathing (shallow) and her temperature (scorching). Biting her lip, uncertain how best to help, she hesitated a moment before hurrying to the kitchen sink. She soaked a cloth in cold water, wrung it out, and placed it on her feverish brow. Then she asked Lily to take Cami into the living room and read her a story, assuring the girls that their mother would be just fine. A few minutes later, Cam burst into the room. He stopped short when he saw his wife lying on the floor, Alisa kneeling next to her in prayer. Nathan came huffing and puffing along behind him, stopping in the doorway to catch his breath before joining his foster daughter in her supplications to the Harvest Goddess.

Cam knelt down beside Alice and reached to lift her. Feeling the heat radiating from her, he hesitated, drawing back in alarm. Then he carefully picked her up and gently carried her into their bedroom, laying her on the bed. He asked Nathan and Alisa to stay with her a little longer, then he ran out the door, heedless of the two worried little faces peeking around the corner of the room at him as he tore out the front door.

A short while later, he returned, still at a run, Dr. Ayame and Hiro close on his heels. As the good doctor turned towards her patient, Hiro dropped her black bag on the bedside table and opened it up, standing ready to pass her whichever instruments she required.

"I think first we need to get her out of these clothes," she started to say.

Blushing, Nathan edged towards the bedroom door. "Oh, ahh, I think perhaps I should return to the church. Cam, you know where to find me, should you need me. Meanwhile, I will be praying for a swift recovery for Alice. Alisa, you may stay here if you can be of assistance, my daughter. If not, return to the church and add your prayers with mine." Then he hurried out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Alisa looked uncertainly at Cam, then the doctor, and finally Hiro, but they were too preoccupied to notice her timidly looking around. So with a gentle murmur, she slipped out the door and followed Nathan down the road, except that she turned and headed up the mountain, feeling compelled to pray to the goddess beside the small clear lake at the mountain's peak said to be her special dwelling place, rather than within the confines of a manmade church.